Assisted Suicide
by ThatxGirlxThere
Summary: Just another essay that I had to write for school. As the title says it's about assisted suicide.


**A/N: Okay, here's another school assignment that I felt like posting. My aunt really wanted to read this so I decided the sooner I post it the better. I just wish that my mom hadn't deleted it off of her computer…**

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Assisted Suicide

Assisted suicide is a cruel procedure ending in an innocent person's life. Over the years, many have died due to the act, Though many parts of the country feel that it should be illegal, it still occurs throughout the world. To help end assisted suicide, America should make this illegal in all 50 states, not just a select few.

Many doctors in the United States do not believe that what they are doing is wrong. Assisted suicide helps reduce the patient's suffering (Rifkin 18). In the end, that could make the patient happier. Sometimes, more pain comes from the family and friends of a patient (Rifkin 18). If the patient lived any longer, it could prolong the suffering. Though some patients may have a hard time making their decision, in the end, it is still their choice (Rifkin 19). Nobody is ever truly forced to die. Some psychiatrists only believe that it is a treatable disorder if a patient wishes to die (Rifkin 19). If a patient doesn't believe that it is treatable, they should be able to decide not to have it treated. Physicians usually try to create ambiance so the patient has a meaningful death (Rifkin 20). The patient won't need to worry about having a slow and painful death that way. Some assume that suffering of the dying patient can be cured (Rifkin 19). Death is a remarkably quick and easy cure. "Homicide is the intentional killing of one person by another, euthanasia is the intentional killing of one person by another for the formers benefit" (Savulescu 31). The patient has a reason to die, it isn't for revenge or pleasure. Many people actually have a legitimate reason to die (Savulescu 33). Just like any other freedom, the freedom to choose when to die is important (Savulescu 35).

While some patients may agree with this, others find it frightening. When one woman, Lisa K. Gigliotti, found out that a doctor, Jack Kevorkian, assisted in numerous deaths, she became very anxious (Feister 51). Gigliotti had just been saved, and Kevorkian had just assisted in a suicide regarding a case similar to hers (Feister 51). If he had been her doctor, she could have been just another one of his victims. Soon after Kevorkian had assisted in over 100 deaths, he was arrested for murder (.com). Many Catholics believe that this "flouts Catholic convictions about sanctity of life, and goes to the heart of who people are as a society" (Feister 49). People who haven't always had very advanced health care in the past could possibly be at risk with this policy (Feister 50). If they aren't cared about very much, people may be more than willing to kill them. Some people are only attracted to assisted suicide because they fear their own pending weakness (Feister 51). They don't necessarily care about how it makes their reputation look.

Assisted suicide used to be used to preserve a person's honor (Egendorf 13). Over the past 25 years, it was viewed as a response to the progress of modern medicine (Egendorf 13). There are two different kinds of euthanasia. The two types of are passive and active euthanasia. Passive euthanasia is preformed by disconnecting a respirator or removing a feeding tube (Egendorf 13). Active euthanasia can include giving an overdose of pills or a deadly injection which is the more common method (.com). When a doctor does this, the final decision is the patient's to make (Egendorf 13). In many states, people still believe that assisted suicide is wrong. In Oregon, there was a vote of 51% to 49% against assisted suicide winning by about 16,000 votes (Feister 49). They made a repeal effort but the results were 60% to 40% (Feister 49). New York believes that physician-assisted suicide is an "unwise and dangerous public policy" (Feister 50).

While people may be against assisted suicide, they don't make a very strong effort to change anything. If people are truly against assisted suicide, they should try to make an influence. A request for a vote in certain states could be a good start. Then, the United States government could try to pass a law making it illegal. That way, it wouldn't only be illegal in a select few states. Another more simple solution would be to have an additional person in the room with the doctor and patient. With another person in the room, the doctor could be watched to make sure that nothing bad is done. Just by one simple action, assisted suicide could be easily prevented.

In order to help prevent assisted suicide, America could make it illegal all throughout the country. While assisted suicide still occur in different parts of the world, many people disagree with it. Large groups of people have died due to this act. Assisted suicide is a horrible act ending a person's life by one simple action.

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**A/N: Well, there you go. I hope that you guys enjoyed it. I don't really feel like posting my whole rubric like last time so I'll just post my final grade. Overall I got a 96 on this. That's not too bad. I only lost 2 points on the final copy. My class was graded all throughout preparing the project. That doesn't really make any sense now that I'm reading that. Oh well, you probably understand. I might post another story today. If I don't I'll definitely post it soon. It'll be the last school assignment I'm going to post for a while.**


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